Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics to Launch First Mobile Medical Unit on October 4th

September 24, 2007

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ — The founder of the Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics at UCLA, Kate Edelman Johnson and its co-founder and medical director, Dr. Jeffrey L. Cummings, will announce the creation of “The Deane Team” when the center celebrates its 3rd anniversary with a reception at 5:30pm on Thursday October 4th at 300 Medical Plaza, B216, UCLA Campus.

“The Deane Team” will be a mobile medical unit, committed to facilitating community outreach and medical care, with a focus on the recruitment of patients into research clinical trials, unable to attend the center. The first partner in this venture will be The Motion Picture and Television Fund Home and Hospital Alzheimer’s unit, “Harry’s Haven”, built by Kirk and Anne Douglas in memory of Kirk’s father. Alzheimer’s disease afflicts 5 million Americans and is increasing in prevalence at an alarming rate. As a result of substantial progress in basic science and clinical research over the past decade, new treatments are in development that will slow or even halt the progression of the disease. “The Deane Team” will facilitate the critical process of enrollment for clinical trials of these new medications.

The Deane F. Johnson Alzheimer’s Research Foundation was established in 1999 by Mr. Johnson’s widow, Kate Edelman Johnson. The mission of the foundation is to fund research focused on preventing and curing this dreadful disease. In 2004, the Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics opened at UCLA, where Dr. Cummings and his team are devoted to discovering new treatments and developing optimal methods of care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.

At the anniversary reception, Dr. Cummings will provide an update on the progress being made in the pursuit to stop Alzheimer’s disease to guests such as Deane F. Johnson Foundation board members Diahann Carroll, Angie Dickinson, Michael Feinstein, Phyllis George, Joanna Kerns, as well as Kirk and Anne Douglas.